Tuesday, 30 June 2015

Do you ever see that person in real life
who acts like it’s the 1970’s? Someone who hasn’t adapted to the modern era? In
a way that is Sergey Kovalev and his promoter Kathy Duva. It’s quite embarrassing
what’s going on and despite myself blaming Stevenson for the last few years, it’s clear a
majority of the blame should be on Sergey Kovalev and Kathy Duva at the moment. I will let you know why:

Essentially a purse bid was organized by
the WBC for the Light Heavyweight unification super fight between Kovalev
and Stevenson. Stevenson's team attended this purse bid and they had their bid
ready. Kovalev and promoter Kathy Duva didn’t attend and they turned this purse
bid down.

Now why did they turn this purse bid down?
Well Kovalev and Kathy Duvawant the
fight to be on HBO and they won’t entertain the option of making the move to
Showtime. Yes, that is the reason, even after Mayweather and Pacquiao worked
out their differences and did a shared broadcast with HBO and Showtime.

The logical thing to do by team Kovalev and
Kathy Duva would have been to attend the purse bid, put their teams bid in and
if they won, that’s fantastic for Kathy Duva. If they didn’t win, well it’s a
big payday for Sergey and Kathy also.

Now why wouldn’t Duva attend the purse bid?
Well it’s quite clear. She knew she would have been no chance of competing with
Al Haymon (Stevenson's silent minder). So if Duva put in a bid for around $4 million, Haymon and his
backers probably would have easily beat that with a HUGE bid. Now that’s not a big
deal, it’s actually great for Duva and Kovalev financially. But for their ego,
which is huge in this sport, it’s a deal breaker.

So the only reason this super fight isn’t
being made is because Duva doesn’t want to be embarrassed by what Haymon can
offer. We all blame Haymon for a lot of things, but once again he would have
easily given Kovalev and Stevenson their biggest purses to date.

Now we are left with some more mismatches and given Stevenson’s age, we likely
won’t see this super fight happen. After blaming Stevenson over the last couple
of years, it’s all on team Kovalev now. It's backward thinking and it's wrong to hold back Kovalev from his biggest pay day. Sergey should be pressuring Duva to change this, however he obviously isn't and should be blamed also.

Monday, 29 June 2015

Gennady
‘GGG’ Golovkin is just about the most interesting fighter in the sport at the
moment. He is also a fan favorite which means he can get away with a few things
that other elite fighters can’t. Over the past month Keith Thurman has been
getting hammered by the media ahead of his bout on the 11th of July
vs Luiz Collazol, in Florida. This is despite Collazo being a former World
Champion who is still top 15 at Weltwerweight. So lets try work out who
Golovkin is fighting next.

Gennady
has several options, however a lot of options are also off the table. Canelo
and Cotto are fighting in November so that rules them out. Mayweather isn’t
interested in facing Gennady for his farewell bout. Pacquiao is out with a
shoulder injury. Most of the top names at 154 are fighting each other or they
are with promoters or television networks that won’t fight on HBO, which has
Gennady signed to a multi fight deal.

All
we are left with is Tureano Johnson, Billy Joe Saunders, Hassan N’dam and Chris
Eubank Jr. The best fight out of these names remains Hassan N’dam and this
would be a good opponent considering the limited options which are out there.
Also worth mentioning Golovkin has ruled out a move to 168 next for a Ward
fight. Ward has also mentioned he needs another tune up bout before he takes on
an elite opponent. If Roc Nation want to pay Ward another $2 million to fight a
tune up, then good luck with that. Also worth noting David Lemeiux is keen on facing GGG, but not until early next year.

So
my question is why isn’t Golovkin vs N’dam being hyped? N’dam is a solid
fighter. And you know he’s going to try and last 12. Important to note since Monroe Jr and Geale, blatantly quit in their bouts, leaving viewers with a bad taste. N'dam has been dropped nearly
10 times in two bouts vs Quillen and Lemieux and he finished both fights. He
has lost twice, but he’s never been stopped. And Curtis Stevens gave Golovkin
some tough moments & Ndam easily beat the American.

N’dam
fought like a warrior against Lemeiux and his purse was
$53K. If anyone deserves this fight it’s N’Dam and it would be very interesting
and entertaining while it lasts. I like Johnson, he’s a good character and all
class in interviews and on twitter but he needs a little longer to develop and
he has a lot to achieve, so I would like to see him pursue alternatives. Eubank
Jr and Billy Joe Saunders are rather unworthy at the moment but both have the talent to be future opponents.

Golovkin
vs N’Dam should happen next. Anything less, Golovkin should be held accountable, like
fighters such as Thurman and Danny Garcia are. Despite being entertaining Golovkin
and his team have the coin to get some solid names. As boxing experts, pundits and fans, let's not create double standards. Call a fight as we see it, be enthusiastic for interesting bouts, but also complain about mismatches. Strong match ups are strong for the sport.

Saturday, 27 June 2015

Tonight at the
Little Creek Casino Resort in Washington USA, Sam Soliman unofficially defeated
rising American middleweight prospect Dominic Wade. Wade got the Split
Decision, however it was a clear win for Soliman on my card. Despite Soliman
slipping in round 4 and Wade getting credit with the knockdown, Soliman still
clearly won a majority of the rounds. Lets just get one thing straight also,
Wade was the center of high expectations and this was his main event, with
Shobox building the American Middleweight slowly. This win was meant to
catapult Wade into the Middleweight top 10 rankings, however it really showed
the American had no answer in dealing with the awkward Australian.

I watched the
fight live and I have watched another full replay after the fight and I’m not a
fan of Sam Soliman’s at all. I find his fighting style unappealing, so I was
probably a little bias to Wade in scoring. And even with this bias I had for the American, my scorecard had Soliman winning by 3 rounds. The result doesn’t really matter, the performance
was a good one from Soliman and this will earn him another big fight. Like many
Australian boxers Sam Soliman is under rated and he is very awkward. I would like to see how
Golovkin deals with Soliman, so I would like to see that fight next. Soliman
has only really been destroyed once, by Anthony Mundine in their rematch where
he was hit by a peak Mundine, which was a sight to see.

Wade has a lot of
improving to do and this match up was a horrible one from the outset. Wade's match maker and team need to have a good look at themselves. Soliman is difficult for experienced world champions to fight and rising inexperienced stars, will always find the Australian's style difficult. Wade isn't in the top 15 at Middleweight at the moment and if he
rematches Soliman, the fight will most likely go the same way. Bit embarrassing
on Showtime’s part was the scoring tonight, we know they needed Wade to win as
they are developing him, but if your fighter looses give credit to the opposing
fighter.

Maybe I scored it
wrong? But I definitely had the same score as judge Max Deluca who had it, 96-93 for Soliman. It was a great performance by Soliman, a major improvement compared to his injury riddled performance against Taylor.

Thursday, 25 June 2015

A couple of
things have happened recently which have made Mayweather and Berto bitter enemies.
Berto is close with Mayweather’s ex, Shantel Jackson and many are stating that
the two are actually dating. Now here comes the intense part, Berto is
complaining that Floyd and his group are calling and harassing him. The phone
calls include threats, naming fearful figures and also deep breathing on the
other end of the phone. Despite a Mayweather vs Berto bout not generating huge interest from boxing fans, it definitely will now.

This backdrop is definitely
making Floyd vs Berto on September 12th a lot more interesting.
Since the two are enemies and actual stalking and harassment complaints are
occurring the public will be instantly interested in this. If Berto is
dating Jackson, which is rumored to be happening then Floyd is going to be a
very angry man. He has a track record of these kind of things in the past and
he’s obviously hurt about Jackson, it’s obvious he deeply loved her.

There’s not much
more to write, other than things between Berto and Floyd are very intense at
the moment. Criminal complaints could follow. Berto knows Floyd is behind the
calls and he finds them a bit in mature, but they are definitely of a
threatening nature.

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

As we reported
over the past few months Oscar De La Hoya is intent on making a comeback to the
sport he loves. Despite a lot of property, money in the bank and a tonne of
successful investments, the desire to compete is burning deep inside the Golden
Boy. Oscar at the moment is considering making a return, his team at GBP are
discussing who he should fight next and if it’s worth returning. Let me give
you a quick run down of what you can expect if Oscar returns.

De La Hoya will
instantly be fighting on Pay Per View. The guy has a ridiculously large and
loyal fan base. The demographics of these fans is also substantially different
to that of normal boxing fans. If Oscar does make a comeback the weight will be
at Middleweight or Junior Middleweight. That is his walking around weight and
he won’t be bulking to 168 or fighting as light as 147.

On return Oscar
will want to fight the best. I think this will be a terrible choice, but he
seems intent on fighting Golovkin. An exhibition bout between Canelo and Oscar
could also be done, but the two are close friends. This could also be a total publicity stunt, keep in mind
Oscar just might be working out harder with no intent on returning to the
boxing ring. But we need to take what he says at face value because he has so often
spoke the truth in the past. Oscar is from the old school of fighters who
rarely talk trash and when a reporter asks them a question he looks at them in
the eye and answers the question honestly. He has also never referred to
himself in 3rd person, which is increasingly irritating amongst
current boxers.

If I had to make
a decision what would I pick? I think Oscar will make a return to the ring at
some stage. He will run a successful promotion for the fight which builds
incredible interest amongst the mainstream media and casual boxing fans who buy
into his logic of returning and having one defying bout for greatness. This
will likely be against Golovkin and it won’t end well. It won’t last 6 rounds.
But Oscar will take a $10 million pay out and he will ride off into the sunset.

It’s a way to get
fit, get motivated for another 6 months and increase the interest in his brand
and his promotional company. Golden Boy Promotions has limited major fights to
set up & if Oscar makes a return, his huge status will bring the company back
with the power players.